Junk Film: Why Bad Movies Matter

WELCOME TO JUNK FILM

Entire libraries of criticism study good art. Who studies bad art?

For the most part, bad movies have been buried by their creators, or have circulated in midnight screenings and Reddit threads. They've been used for humor by Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Red Letter Media, and presented as outrageous spectacle by critics and commentators. Rarely have bad movies been studied.

JUNK FILM's thirteen essays explore the failures of specific works created between the 1940s and the 2010s. Each demonstrates a different kind of failure, from mixing incompatible genres (Cop Rock) to stacking a screenplay with sociopaths (Staying Alive). The book uses a few basic theses about bad film and television to unpack these failures. Importantly, it shows what students of film can learn from bad movies: how to make art that works via watching art that doesn't.

Junk Film bridges film scholarship and pop culture criticism with wit and warmth.